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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. clip — a video
  5. last — to go on
  6. drill — a practice
  7. drill — the tool
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. spell — a short time
  11. spell — magic
  12. clip — to cut
  13. content — the amount
  14. clip — for paper
  15. spell — letters
  16. land — to come down
  17. land — a country
  18. content — happy
  19. last — finally
  20. last — final
  21. drill — army training
  22. pitch — completely
  23. land — ground
  24. content — videos and posts

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com